Paul Rothemund: Casting spells with DNA

Traducător: Alexandra Adela Luca Corector: Brandusa Gheorghe

There's an ancient and universal concept that words have power,

Exista un concept antic si universal ca toate cuvintele au putere,

that spells exist,

ca vrajile exista, si daca am putea doar sa pronuntam cuvintele potrivite,

and that if we could only pronounce the right words,

then -- whoosh! -- you know, an avalanche would come

atunci, puuuf! Ar veni o avalansa

and wipe out the hobbits, right?

si ar omori hobbitii, nu-i asa? Deci asta e o idee foarte atractiva

So this is a very attractive idea,

because we're very lazy, like the Sorcerer's Apprentice,

pentru ca suntem foarte lenesi, ca ucenicul vrajitorului,

or the world's greatest computer programmer.

sau ca cel mai bun programator din lume.

This idea has a lot of traction with us.

Asa ca, ideea asta ne atrage foarte tare.

We love the idea that words, when pronounced,

Ne place ideea ca atunci cand pronuntam cuvintele --

are little more than pure information,

ele sunt un pic mai mult decat informatie pura,

but they evoke physical action in the real world

dar evoca o anumita actiune fizica

that helps us do work.

in lumea reala, care ne ajuta sa lucram.

Desigur, cu atatea computere programabile

So, of course, with lots of programmable computers

and robots around,

si roboti prin jurul nostru, asta e usor de imaginat.

this is an easy thing to picture.

How many of you know what I'm talking about?

Deci cati dintre voi stiu despre ce vorbesc?

Raise your right hand.

Ridicati mana dreapta. OK. Cati dintre voi

How many don't know what I'm talking about?

nu stiu despre ce vorbesc? Ridicati mana stanga. OK

Raise your left hand.

Bine. Asta e grozav. Deci asta a fost prea usor.

So that's great. So that was too easy.

You guys have very insecure computers, OK?

Voi aveti computere foarte nesigure, asa-i?

Dar asta e un alt tip de vraja.

So now the thing is, this is a different kind of spell.

This is a computer program made of zeros and ones.

Asta este un program de calculator format din zero si unu.

Poate fi pronuntat pe un calculator. Face ceva de genul asta.

It can be pronounced on a computer, does something like this.

Important e ca il putem scrie intr-un limbaj de nivel inalt.

The important thing is we can write it in a high-level language.

Un magician de calculatoare poate scrie asta.

A computer magician can write this thing.

Poate fi compilat in asta -- zero si unu --

It can be compiled into zeros and ones and pronounced by a computer.

si pronuntat de un calculator.

And that's what makes computers powerful,

Si asta e ce le face pe calculatoare puternice:

these high-level languages that can be compiled.

aceste limbaje de nivel inalt care pot fi compilate.

And so, I'm here to tell you, you don't need a computer

Asadar, sunt aici sa va spun ca nu ai nevoie de un calculator

to actually have a spell.

pentru a avea o vraja. De fapt, ce poti face

In fact, what you can do at the molecular level

la nivel molecular este ca daca vei codifica informatia --

is that if you encode information --

you encode a spell or program as molecules --

vei codifica o vraja sau un program ca molecule --

then physics can actually directly interpret that information

atunci fizica poate interpreta direct aceasta informatie

and run a program.

si sa deruleze un program. Asta se intampla in proteine.

It's what happens in proteins.

When this amino-acid sequence gets pronounced as atoms,

Cand aceasta secventa de amino acizi e pronuntata ca atomi,

these little letters are sticky for each other.

aceste litere mici sunt lipicioase una pentru cealalta.

It collapses into a three-dimensional shape that turns it into a nanomachine

Se strange intr-o forma tridimensionala care se transforma intr-o

that actually cuts DNA.

nanomasina care practic taie ADN.

The interesting thing is that if you change the sequence,

Si lucrul interesant este ca daca schimbi secventa,

you change the three-dimensional folding.

schimbi si impaturirea tridimensionala.

You get, now, a DNA stapler, instead.

Obtii acum un capsator ADN in loc. Acestea sunt tipurile

These are the kind of molecular programs we want to be able to write.

de programe moleculare pe care vrem sa fim in stare sa le scriem,

The problem is, we don't know

dar problema este ca nu stim limbajul

the machine language of proteins or have a compiler for proteins.

proteinelor; nu avem un compilator pentru proteine.

So I've joined a growing band of people

Deci m-am alaturat unui grup de oameni care incearca sa faca

that try to make molecular spells using DNA.

vraji moleculare utilizand ADN. Folosim ADN pentru ca e mai ieftin.

We use DNA because it's cheaper, it's easier to handle,

it's something we understand really well --

E mai usor de manipulat. E ceva ce intelegem foarte bine.

Il intelegem atat de bine incat credem ca putem chiar sa scriem

so well, in fact, that we think we can actually write

programming languages for DNA and have molecular compilers.

limbaje de programare pentru ADN si sa avem compilatoare moleculare.

So then, we think we can do that.

Asadar, putem face asta. Si prima mea intrebare in legatura cu asta --

One of my first questions doing this was:

sau una din intrebarile mele in legatura cu asta -- era: Cum poti face

How can you make an arbitrary shape or pattern out of DNA?

o forma oarecare sau un model din ADN? Si am decis sa folosesc

I decided to use a type of DNA origami,

un fel de ADN origami, unde iei o fasie lunga de ADN

where you take a long strand of DNA

and fold it into whatever shape or pattern you might want.

si o impaturesti in orice forma sau model vrei.

So here's a shape.

Deci asta e o forma. Am petrecut de fapt aproximativ un an acasa,

I actually spent about a year in my home in my underwear, coding,

codand, ca Linus [Torvalds], in imaginea de mai inainte.

like Linus [Torvalds], in that picture before.

This program takes a shape and spits out 250 DNA sequences.

Si programul asta ia o forma, da nastere la 250 de secvente ADN.

These short DNA sequences are what are going to fold the long strand

Aceste scurte secvente de ADN sunt fasia pe care o sa o impaturim

into this shape that we want to make.

in aceasta forma pe care vrem sa o creem. Asa ca trimiti un email

So you send an e-mail with these sequences in it

cu aceste secvente in el la o companie, si ce face --

to a company,

and the company pronounces them on a DNA synthesizer,

compania le pronunta cu un sintetizator ADN.

a machine about the size of a photocopier.

E o masina cam de marimea unui fotocopiator. Si ce se intampla e ca,

And they take your e-mail,

ei iau email-ul tau si fiecare litera din el,

and every letter in your e-mail, they replace with a 30-atom cluster --

il inlocuiesc cu o grupare de 30 de atomi, unul pentru fiecare litera,

one for each letter, A, T, C and G in DNA.

A, T, C si G in ADN. Le leaga in secventele corecte,

They string them up in the right sequence,

and then they send them back to you via FedEx.

si apoi ti le trimit inapoi prin FexEx.

So you get 250 of these in the mail in little tubes.

Asa ca primesti 250 din astea in posta in tuburi mici.

I mix them together, add a little bit of salt water,

Eu le-am amestecat, am adaugat un pic de apa sarata,

and then add this long strand I was telling you about,

si am adaugat aceasta fasie lunga de care va spuneam,

that I've stolen from a virus.

pe care am furat-o de la un virus. Si ceea ce se intampla este ca,

And then what happens is,

you heat this whole thing up to about boiling.

incalzesti toata asta pana aproape de fierbere. O racesti

You cool it down to room temperature,

and as you do, those short strands do the following thing:

la temperatura camerei, si pe masura ce faci asta,

ce se intampla e ca fasiile alea scurte, fac urmatorul lucru:

each one of them binds that long strand in one place,

fiecare din ele leaga fasia aia lunga in cate un loc,

and then has a second half that binds that long strand in a distant place,

si apoi mai are o jumatate care leaga fasia mare

and brings those two parts of the long strand

intr-un loc mai indepartat, si aduce acele doua parti din fasia mare

close together so they stick together.

aproape una de alta, astfel incat se lipesc.

So the net effect of all 250 of these strands

Asadar efectul net al tuturor celor 250 de fasii este sa impatureasca

is to fold the long strand into the shape you're looking for.

fasia mare in forma pe care o vrei;

It'll approximate that shape.

o sa aproximeze forma respectiva. Facem asta in realitate in tub de testare.

We do this for real, in the test tube.

In each little drop of water, you get 50 billion of these guys.

In fiecare picatura de apa obtii 50 de miliarde din acestea.

With a microscope, you can see them on a surface.

Poti sa te uiti cu un microscop si sa le vezi pe o suprafata.

The neat thing is if you change the sequence and change the spell,

Si lucrul frumos este ca daca schimbi secventa

si modifici vraja, schimbi pur si simplu secventa capselor.

just change the sequence of the staples,

you can make a molecule that looks like this.

Poti face o molecula care sa arate asa, si careia de fapt,

And, you know, he likes to hang out with his buddies.

ii place sa stea cu prietenii ei.

A lot of them are actually pretty good.

Si multe dintre ele sunt chiar reusite.

If you change the spell again, you change the sequence again,

Daca schimbi iar vraja, modifici din nou secventa.

you get really nice, 130-nanometer triangles.

Obtii triunghiuri foarte dragute de 130 de nanometri. Daca faci asta din nou,

If you do it again,

you can get arbitrary patterns.

poti obtine modele intamplatoare. Asadar pe un dreptunghi

So on a rectangle, you can paint patterns of North and South America,

poti desena modele ale Americii de Nord si de Sud, sau literele "ADN".

or the words, "DNA."

So that's DNA origami. That's one way.

Asadar asta este ADN origami. Asta e o modalitate. Sunt mai multe modalitati,

There are many ways of casting molecular spells using DNA.

de a face vraji moleculare folosind ADN.

What we really want to do in the end

Ceea ce vrem sa facem in final este sa invatam cum sa programam

is learn how to program self-assembly so we can build anything, right?

auto-asamblarea, asa incat sa putem construi orice.

We want to be able to build technological artifacts

Vrem sa putem construi artefacte tehnologice

that are maybe good for the world.

care poate ar fi folositoare pentru omenire. Vrem sa invatam

We want to learn how to build biological artifacts,

cum sa construim artefacte biologice, ca oameni si balene si copaci.

like people and whales and trees.

And if it's the case that we can reach that level of complexity,

Si daca vom atinge gradul acela de complexitate,

if our ability to program molecules gets to be that good,

daca abilitatea noastra de a programa molecule ajunge sa fie atat de buna,

then that will truly be magic.

atunci asta va fi cu adevarat magic. Multumesc foarte mult.

Thank you very much.

(Aplauze)

(Applause)